The Nine Circles of Hell
by kkann
Summary: It's like having a loaded gun in his mouth and saying that he likes the taste of metal. *Bruce-centric; 'character-study'; spans entire film*


**A/N: **The Nine Circles of Hell in a different sort of sense alongside a butchered quote from Robert Downey Jr. ["_It's like having a loaded gun in my mouth and I like the taste of metal._"] Because each Circle is a different person, not necessarily representing each one literally but rather as nine different situations not exactly in chronological order and varying in length. That aside, I like Bruce. Haven't really written too much focused on just Bruce. /cool story bro you tell it at parties I have no idea what I'm doing.

Moving on to the story itself, enjoy and lemme know whatcha think! :D

**Bruce Banner's Nine Circles of Hell.**

* * *

**The First Circle:**

From the moment he sets foot on the Helicarrier they're all smiles and lies, which in a sick way is almost okay with him because he wouldn't have expected much else.

To put it extremely mildly, Bruce Banner is not a people person.

He does not make it a point in life to seek out large gatherings of people, nor does he ever make it a point to exist in one place long enough to leave a lasting imprint of a name and face in the middle of nowhere with people that will hardly ever give him a second glance. And he likes it that way.

He likes the freewill but hates the freedom.

And so he sits and waits in the wide open expanse of Wherever He Is Right Now, British Columbia, Canada for that Great Big Something because sitting around trying to meditate with the Jolly Green Giant roiling around in the back of his mind isn't exactly making things simple.

Instead, Bruce brews another cup of tea, takes a sip, burns his tongue and decides that he doesn't exactly like this tea.

The Other Guy doesn't either because he thinks it tastes like dirt.

* * *

**Days Without Incident:** 17

* * *

The Great Big Something comes much sooner than planned and he finds himself on the other side of the world while another plans conquest.

* * *

**The Second Circle:**

He'd never gotten to travel much.

That is the one random thought that comes to mind as he kneels over another sickly body and tries to work miracles with archaic bits of nothing that just frustrate him because he has nothing to work with and these flustered people who have no clue what they're doing don't help any.

Yet Bruce is patient, Bruce is calm. The Other Guy…not so much.

In the middle of India in some back alley that is a far cry from the labs he's used to, Bruce Banner is trying to play Medicine Man and pretending that he knows what he's doing.

But then he's scrubbing dirt and disease from his hands and there's that little girl and dammit if he isn't compelled to follow her because her _father_ is sick and her _father_ is dying and he can't just let that happen when there's a chance he can do _something_ to help someone else.

He snaps and defends himself because _stop lying to me!_ and then her _father_ is pointing a gun at his face because well, _just you and me,_ right?

They cart him off and stow him away to the small, cramped confines of a vehicle and—oh mother of god that's a _ship_—and Bruce decides that he doesn't particularly like Natasha.

The Other Guy doesn't like Agent Romanoff either because she reeks of red and lies.

* * *

**Days Without Incident:** 48 ½

* * *

The Great Big Something pits him in a confined space that is much too big for his liking.

* * *

**The Third Circle:**

Nick Fury is clearly not a man to be toyed with.

If anything, Bruce finds himself slinking around the room and trying to identify every possible exit while Captain America a.k.a. Steve Rogers a.k.a. I Thought That Guy Was Dead strides onward and fishes a ten-dollar bill out of his pocket. He doesn't dwell on it much and subconsciously allows himself to wring his hands together as a means of keeping calm and collected.**  
**

Fury doesn't give too much to work with from his facial expression and instead they shake hands with _thanks for coming_ and _thanks for asking nicely_ like they're good pals and there's nothing exceedingly _wrong_ with the situation and they haven't just airlifted the Hulk into the skies over Wherever They Are.

This Tesseract is brought up again and with it comes the fleeting image of a shack on the outskirts of Calcutta and a wooden cradle and a little girl and her 'father' pointing a gun at his face and a document with a picture of a glowing blue cube on it.

In his peripheral he sees Agent Romanoff bend down, eying the image of a man he doesn't know on a computer screen and for the briefest of moments something similar to pity wells in him (or maybe it's just nerves or nausea from their currently airborne position).

One S.H.I.E.L.D. agent with a receding hairline (who also appears pretty no-nonsense to boot, even if he looks about two steps away from fangasming all over Captain America) named Coulson brings it upon himself to fill Bruce in on their attempts to locate said Tesseract, something about wirelessly accessible cameras and more or less hoping against all odds that they find the damn thing in time without saying so in so many words. He inwardly sighs, believing them to have already overlooked the usage of spectrometers and how to _calibrate them for gamma rays._

The Director eyes him and he pauses momentarily as he wars with himself and the Other Guy before conceding hesitantly and earnestly _do you have somewhere for me to work?_

The Other Guy sees Fury as little more than just another General Ross, only with an eye-patch and a score to settle with a mischievous god.

* * *

**Days Without Incident:** 50

* * *

The Great Big Something leaves him dangling in the air playing scientist and praying.

* * *

**The Fourth Circle:**

Bruce would honestly prefer it if they'd simply show him to the lab and then leave him to his business. Instead they show him the way and dump him with Mr. Tony Stark and expect results A.S.A.P. (even if they're not going to say that outright. It's just heavily implied because they don't want to hang out around the humanized Hulk any longer than they need to).

Stark blatantly ignores the way that Bruce keeps skirting away from him and trying to initiate some personal space because—how the hell is the Hulk a gift?

The other man has a cluster of shrapnel imbedded in the cavity next to his heart and a futuristic pacemaker keeping him alive and kicking and an _enormous green rage monster_ is a gift. Go figure. But_ that's nice. It's a nice sentiment._

And yet despite the quips, the careful stares (he's being studied, he knows this), the laughter and being prodded with _sharp metal objects_ Bruce appreciates Stark's company, if only because the man has come to see him as an intellectual equal and as his fellow man. In a strange way, they _almost_ hit it off immediately, considering that thus far in his venture into the realm of S.H.I.E.L.D. and this Avengers Initiative, Tony is the only one Bruce actually likes, let alone minutely trusts.

Bruce has almost forgotten what it feels like to be treated like a human being and then Stark goes and insinuates that _the other guy saved my life? _

The Other Guy only tolerates Tony Stark because he says stupid things and gives them blueberries.

* * *

**Days Without Incident:** 51 ¼

* * *

The Great Big Something consists of (almost) feeling more at home than he has in years.

* * *

**The Fifth Circle:**

The moniker Captain America sounds cheesy and corny but he thinks nothing of it because clearly it worked for the 1940s and there's no sense in changing it now, seventy years later.

But it's Steve Rogers that bothers him, not Captain America.

Because with all due respect, Steve, you're not exactly rolling out the welcome wagon. Bruce doesn't expect him to, but instead he's forced to stand back idly and bite his tongue as _only word I care about_ turns into _no offense_ because clearly there's nothing offensive about the way Rogers goes no farther than the edge of the lab and glowers as Stark tries to provoke the Other Guy.

Steve is wary (well, he should be. They all should be.) and overly cautious and comes no closer than he has to really because _are you nuts?_ Bruce bites back his wounded pride as Stark turns to their (Bruce's unwanted) guest because the _jury's out._

Captain Rogers says something about putting everyone on board the Helicarrier at risk but for the most part any other exchange between the other two men is lost on him as he busies himself with scrutinizing his data all over again and trying not to focus on the recent jab at his side because damn, that kinda hurt_._

His attention is diverted again when he's suddenly inquired on some of his own unique scientific expertise that ends in _blueberry?_ and the baffled and incredulous gaze from the Living Legend that makes him feel like he just drop-kicked a three-legged puppy.

The Other Guy decides that he doesn't like Steve and Bruce doesn't blame him.

* * *

**Days Without Incident:** 52

* * *

The Great Big Something consists of feeling eyes on him at all times, their intentions unknown.

* * *

**The Sixth Circle:**

Bruce figures he'd probably like Thor more if it weren't for his arrogance. Perhaps it's not so much that as it is the fact that the latter is supposed to be some sort of demi-god and demi-god's aren't exactly on the Bruce's list of Things I Believe in Without Question.

But then—of course, because he was already beginning to wonder when it would happen—all hell breaks loose and then the next thing Bruce knows is that they're all yelling and trying to be heard at the same time and they're all screwed because Thor's adopted bag-of-cats-brained brother is locked in Bruce's room and there's a dangerous scepter almost in his hand and _you can't kill me, I've tried!_

Well, Bruce Banner certainly knows how to shut up a crowd.

They all give him those different looks—Fury seems mildly surprised, Romanoff doesn't know what to say, Thor probably thinks suicide is dishonorable, Rogers just stares and Stark looks like someone just punched him in the groin—but he figures, screw it, it was probably going to come out sooner or later.

He lies and says he's gotten over it.

And yet no high-tension awkward oh-god-he's-suicidal silence on a S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier is complete without an explosion.

Briefly, Bruce wonders what is it that's actually supposed to kill you: the fall, or the impact.

They—well, Romanoff fell with him now didn't she—hit the ground hard and then everything reaches a boiling point. He's gasping and struggling and she's breathing and there's someone pouring acid on his brain and—dammit, why is she so _loud_—and good God is this what it feels like to die, every time—God dammit, Romanoff, shut _up_ what the hell do you mean—_YOUR LIFE?_

Bruce screams—it's more of a guttural, pained yell of rage and fear and anguish and pity and terror and fury and all of those other imaginable unimaginable things—as he unleashes it all.

It's horrible, ugly, disgusting and he has absolutely no control over it. There are little flashes of things he can't quite recall as _he _roars and she gasps (oh god, he's so so sorry, honestly) and then there's the sudden chase because of course she runs and where would the fun be if _he_ just let her get away?

There is nothing but rage and power and it's beautiful and beyond anything he could have imagined.

He hits her. Oh God, he friggin' _hit_ her. But it's her fault, right? She was the one goading and antagonizing and then she…and then she…it was…she threatened and prodded and pushed and pulled and he told her no, no, no, don't do that go away and she lied because she said it was just you and me and for the briefest of seconds he'd trusted her.

He's a half step away from smashing her when the demi-god sails out of nowhere with a hammer, of all things.

It isn't the attack that enrages him—though it does add fuel to the fire—but the fact that Thor tries to say that they are not each other's _enemies_.

The Other Guy decides that Bruce—who has, at this point, seemingly lost consciousness to himself—has felt enough pain and listened to enough lies for one day.

* * *

**Days Without Incident:** 0

* * *

The Great Big Something sends him plummeting from the sky.

* * *

**The Seventh Circle:**

Bruce doesn't really know who this 'Agent Barton' person is that they kept going on about before. All he knows is that the man's been 'compromised'—taken, infiltrated, brainwashed, abducted, however they want to word it. The extent of his knowledge is that Loki has done something to him and everyone wants him back (Primarily Agent Romanoff, but he says nothing on the matter.), even if he did lead the attack that left Bruce skydiving.

At least, that's what he thinks as he picks himself out of rubble and a man that he doesn't know tosses him a pair of pants and informs him that _well then, son, you've got a condition_ and tries to figure out where the hell he is.

Without much effort he manages to procure a shoddy motorcycle that's obviously seen better days for himself. The people fleeing the city don't ask too much about it while the sky rips itself apart and deposits legion upon legion of otherworldly army onto an unwittingly New York City full of screaming pedestrians who don't understand what's going on and a broken team that doesn't know the first thing about working together.

He actually meets this Barton—Clint, Hawkeye—in person about five seconds after he slows to a stop and they acquaint themselves with one another with little more than a passing glance while Cap fills him in (he would later learn that Tony had inquired on his whereabouts, expecting him there for reasons Bruce couldn't comprehend) and five seconds before _I'm always angry_ and the Other Guy punches in the snout of a Leviathan.

The Other Guy decides he doesn't mind Clint too much because the latter never misses.

* * *

**Days Without Incident:** 8 hours

* * *

The Great Big Something is drowned out by the sound of the Hulk roaring around the city and smashing.

* * *

**The Eighth Circle:**

From what little he can comprehend while trapped within the mind of the monster, Bruce can get why no one seems to like Loki.

He heaves and grunts and growls and he's mildly amused by the man's stance, the way he looks almost afraid of the beast before him but refuses to show weakness. The so-called demi-god reeks of attitude and wrath and pride and Bruce realizes that his bag-of-cats brain has been churning away for some time now, already knowing that it is much too late and that there is nothing he can do to heed the onslaught.

Doesn't mean he offers the slimy bastard any pity so he just howls at him again.

Briefly there is a lumbering dance between them as one swings and the other dodges and then_ I am a god you dull creature!_

Well that's a low blow and neither Bruce nor the Hulk appreciate the sentiment too much.

As he heavily stomps away to go help save the rest of the world he just snickers at the rubble and the _puny god_.

The Other Guy only likes Loki because he can toss him around like a limp rag-doll.

* * *

**Days Without Incident**: 0

* * *

The Great Big Something leaves him yanking a figure clad in red and gold out of the sky.

* * *

**The Ninth Circle:**

There's the whole matter of Loki abandoned in the remnants of Stark's living room and the Other Guy isn't all that willing to relinquish his hold on Bruce's psyche.

It isn't until _I'll take that drink now_ and Thor lifting his adopted brother by the collar with Barton keeping an arrow trained on him without yielding that the Hulk grunts and wars with Bruce for control. They each eye him warily and a couple take a few steps back while the Hulk presses a hand to his head as his human half attempts to reincarnate himself and return to his own body and mind.

He growls in response to their stares (he hates that, stop it!) and Loki has the very gall to crack a grin at the angry might of the beast.

Natasha Romanoff punches the smug look off the Asgardian's face.

He likes her a little more now.

Barton curses her for not letting her shoot him (and/or for not being the one to strike him). Stark laughs and Thor remains silent.

Bruce takes his opening and the Hulk heaves a heavy breath from his nostrils as he resurfaces from himself. He knows that they're all watching him, fascinated or not, and all he's aware of is the fact that his pants aren't going to fit anymore and that every god damn thing hurts.

He falls to his knees, one hand clasping his head and the other his ruined trousers. Gloved hands clap his back, conveying thoughts of appreciation and apology in as not so many words before metallic ones help to hoist him to his unsteady feet.

He's exhausted, to say the least. Bruce leans on Stark's armor for a moment before he shrugs off both him and Rogers' helping hands.

The others snicker at the ensuing exchange when Bruce makes it a point to glance at the indentations in the flooring and then at Loki, who is being held in the unrelenting grip of the man who still hopes to find reason within him.

Bruce laughs.

Loki glares.

The Other Guy decides that he and himself might not be so bad after all.

* * *

**Days Without Incident: **6 hours

* * *

The Great Big Something takes the Avengers Initiative and turns it on its head and he can feel like part of a team for the first time in who knows how long.

* * *

Bruce sits in a car with Stark yammering on about something on R&D and having to fix the Tower and meeting Pepper (a woman, as it would turn out, not a vegetable that Tony's too attached to) as they leave Central Park and the events of the past forty-eight hours and their teammates behind and Stark breaks his reverie by mentioning that a mandatory stop at Burger King is the first thing on their list of priorities before Bruce can consider asking to be taken to the airport instead.

He sighs and he and the Other Guy become one.


End file.
